A Bad Day
by The Vampire's Missus
Summary: Second in the Nick Klein trilogy. Things tend to get worse before they get better.


One More Day (Part 2): A Bad Day

Nick sat in a chair in the rec room wondering what that dream had been about. He couldn't remember specific details, other than the fact that he'd been terrified and kept screaming to himself to wake up. He realised that the dream - nightmare - had been his midnight movie for the past couple of days, but could only recall the emotions it had aroused - primal, raw and unsettling. He clasped his hands together in the silence and picked up some magazine to take his mind off the disturbing thoughts. The page was open at an article outlining the findings of new research into cocaine abuse. Even snorting small amounts of cocaine could cause a toxic reaction. The symptoms of an overdose included heart palpitations, intense sweating, high temperatures, seizures, chest pains, tremors, severe nausea and vomiting. The psychological effects included anxiety, paranoia, panic, severe agitation and excited delirium. Nick mentally ticked off some of these items as familiar and his mind reeled.

Despite the technical knowledge of drugs and his experience as a police officer, it had never hit home that he could have died from taking drugs, especially not cocaine. Even when Cass's pub chat-up had OD'ed on ecstasy, he'd repeated that mantra of _"It'll be ok if you're careful_." Nick recalled that night and a chemical memory of ecstasy emerged to tantalise him. He closed his eyes and could taste the little blue teddy bear pill on his tongue. He swallowed saliva and shook his head to clear his mind. "_No, not going back there,_" he thought, then got up and walked out the room.

The other clinic residents were milling about the kitchen area, as Nick approached. It was "group cooking day" today, as the clinic liked to get the "inmates" to do practical things as part of the recovery process. He washed his hands and joined the others at the bench.  
"Right, I've got PMT, so it's cakes and sweets today, plenty of chocolate," announced the cook, to laughs from her captive audience. A bag of flour was passed round and everyone took a measure for their cake. One man named Lee, who could never resist the temptation to score a laugh started chopping up his flour so he could "snort" it. Everyone else, including the staff, looked on and waited for the punchline.

Lee pretended to snort the flour, then turned and ran out the room and sneezed loudly. That drew a big laugh and applause. He returned in triumph and everyone got back to work. Nick felt better now he was doing something useful and he felt lighter as everyone smiled and laughed at the Jamie Oliver impressions Lee started doing.

After dinner and cakes, Nick took a walk down to the lake and watched the ducks go back to their nest. A memory of a day on patrol with Cass came flooding back. They had walked through a park trying to find vandals and found smashed bottles, broken benches and rubbish strewn around the lake. They had then found something even worse...a line of dead ducklings, their necks twisted. The mother was still barely alive and flapped a wing weakly. He and Cass had stared at the sight in anger and horror. Why would anyone want to do such a thing? Cass decided that since a vet's was nearby, they should take the duck there and see if it could be saved. Nick looked at her, nodded ok and took his hat off, gently placing the duck in it, and they set off across the park to the main road. Of course, there was nothing that could be done and the vet gave the duck an injection to ease its suffering. Cass and Nick left in sorrow and tried in vain to find the scum who did that.

Nick gasped as he recalled that the ducks were also in his nightmare, but somehow different...he blinked in the early twilight and turned to see a staff member walking towards him. "Have you seen Lee? He was supposed to see me 15 minutes ago..." the man asked.

"Sorry, I've been day-dreaming, wouldn't know if Monica Belluci walked past naked," said Nick, faking a smile. He was still preoccupied by his thoughts and needed to work them out. The other man smiled and went down towards the car park.

Nick shivered slightly and decided to get a jacket. He ambled inside and decided to go to the loo. The staff one was the nearest, so he slipped inside, feeling slightly guilty. As he washed his hands, he heard a thud from inside a cubicle. Nick turned and glanced under the door at a pair of feet splayed on the floor. His heart beat faster as he realised something was wrong with the bloke inside. Nick shouted, "You ok in there?" and on no reply, forced the door open.

Sprawled across the seat was Lee, with a syringe in his arm, eyes like dead fish. Nick reeled in shock and felt for a pulse. He couldn't find one. He wiped his face in desperation and ran to the door, "Somebody get help, he's OD'ed," Nick screamed. He rushed back to Lee and put him on the floor and started resusitation. "C'mon, breathe you bloody idiot!" Nick was muttering as the doctors charged in. One placed his hands on Nick's shoulder to make him stop so they could take over. He backed off in a daze as he realised that Lee was dead and there was nothing anyone could do now. The doctors had injected Lee with Narcan but there was still no response. One doctor was saying that she had once had a case where it took several minutes to bring someone back, so they should keep going.

Eventually, they conceded defeat and rubbed their necks in bitterness. Nick had watched this, standing at the back of the room, but now he slipped quietly out the door. The bystanders stood in shock, as Nick passed. He walked on aimlessly outside, past the lake and into the forest. He felt numb as he walked in the gathering darkness, finally snapping painfully back to reality as he walked into a branch. Lights flashed and he heard a buzzing sound in his head. Nick held on to the tree with one hand while he felt his sore head, his fingers feeling blood and bark. The buzzing receded to a dull whoosh in his ears. He slumped and sat on the ground shivering.

An image of Cass lying dead by the river came to Nick like a slap in the face. He gasped and tried to blot it out. Tears filled his eyes as he forced himself to think of happier times with Cass. Playing eye-spy during dull shifts in the panda, winding up Smiffy...it all ended the same way, Cass was alive and now she was dead. End of story. That bloke Lee was alive and now he was dead, too. End of story.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting there when someone approached, the leaves and twigs crackling under their feet. A beam of light from a torch swept passed and lit upon Nick. "Oh, there you are!", said a woman's voice. She walked over and he looked up at her. "You've cut your head, doesn't look too bad though," the doctor said as she sat down next to him.

Nick realised that he was sitting in the middle of a forest on a cool night and shook his head. "I don't remember walking here, it's like a bad dream. I think I walked into a tree. How the hell could he die? That bloke was on the ball, he knew what the drugs had done to him, how could he go back to what he was? I really thought he was gonna make it!" Nick rushed in a stream of words, but stopped as the tears started. The doctor said nothing, just holding him as he wept.

Eventually, Nick sighed and said "Can we get back? I'm frozen and half bleeding to death." He gave a half smile in the darkness, "I'm not gonna end up like that bloke. I'm going to walk out of here at the end."


End file.
